An Olympic dream

As we progress through our careers, life can often become more complicated because we lose sight of what we actually want to achieve.

Take my eleven-year-old daughter; she wants to play hockey in the Olympics. That is what she wants to do – not worried about where she plays, when she achieves it by or what shirt number she wears – just a desire to do it by some means.

Contrast that with a graduate member I recently spoke to. All her questions were about becoming a Fellow so she could then become a solicitor. She had a very clear aim of what she wanted to achieve – but focused on a title.

But was that actually what she wanted to achieve? No, it was to become an owner of the conveyancing firm in which she worked for a number of years and to do that as soon as possible. So she thought that she needed that title to be the same as her colleague.

Except that was not the best solution. Why not become a CILEx Conveyancing Practitioner, which she could do as a graduate member as she had the necessary experience.

That would give her the same standing as her colleague in the firm and she could do that straight away. That could open up the possibility of ownership much quicker than she anticipated. Which was what she wanted.

So focusing on a particular title is not always the best way to achieve your ambition.

That lady will be able to achieve her goal shortly, unlike my daughter who will have to wait every four years for the Olympics. Still, as my daughter said, “If not hockey, Dad, then I’ll do trampolining or football”. Life is so simple when you are eleven!

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